1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 69/2 Sprats..are generally introduced about the 9th of November. Indeed ‘Lord Mayor's day’ is sometimes called ‘sprat day’.

1941 N.Y. Times 27 Mar. 20/3 London's Lord Mayor's Day—Nov. 9—is commonly called ‘sprat day’, as the sprat season is considered officially open then.

2014 A. Davidson Oxf. Compan. Food (ed. 3) 771/2 Lord Mayor's Day in London, 9 November, was known as ‘Sprat Day’ because that was when the sprat season was considered officially open.

?1568 in Hist. MSS Comm.: Rep. MSS Var. Coll. (1907) IV. 302 in Parl. Papers 1906 (Cd. 3218) LXIV. 1 [300 mariners for the] spratte fare [taking yearly 3,000 lasts of sprats].

1812 Pennant's Brit. Zool. (new ed.) III. 457 (heading) Sprat herring.

1815 S. L. Mitchill in Trans. Lit. & Philos. Soc. N.Y. 1 454 Sprat Herring of New-York. (Clupea indigena).

1879 Birmingham Daily Post 26 June 4/6 He thought the catching of sprat herrings in the month of January greatly interfered with the supply of mature fish in the summer.

1903 Bull. N.Y. State Mus. No. 278. 210 The fish [sc. the Atlantic thread herring, Opisthonema oglinum] is known there as the sprat herring.

1847 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words II. (at cited word) The dark roky days of November and December are called sprat weather, from that being the most favorable season for catching sprats.

1894 Fishing Gaz. 1 Dec. 535/2 On Wednesday regular ‘sprat weather’ set in.

1941 N.Y. Times 27 Mar. 20/3 ‘Sprat weather’ in England refers to dark Autumnal days when sprat fishing is at its height.

1861 J. C. Atkinson Brit. Birds' Eggs & Nests 105 Red-throated diver—(Colymbus septentrionalis). Rain Goose, Cobble, Sprat-borer, Spratoon, Speckled Diver.

1864 J. C. Atkinson List Provinc. Names Birds Sprat-borer, Prov. (Essex) name for young of Red-throated Diver—Colymbus septentrionalis.

1931 H. J. Massingham Birds of Seashore 258 Red-throated diver, Red-throated Loon, Rain Goose, Cobble, Sprat-Borer or Spratoon.

1889 Cornhill Mag. Dec. 594 All the various cries and motions of the wildfowl they were familiar with..; from the little grebe to the great sprat diver, they knew them all.

1892 D. Jordan Within Hour of London ix. 153 To mention a few of the family of the divers, we have the sprat diver [etc.].

1895 D. Jordan Wild-fowl & Sea-fowl Great Brit. xx. 256 Confusion has been caused in former years by classing, in different localities, the young of different species, as well as the adults in different states of plumage, under one comprehensive heading of Sprat Loons, Dun Divers, or Sprat Divers.

1768 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) II. 414 On the Thames they are called Sprat loons, for they attend that fish during its continuance in the river.

1844 Era 24 Mar. An excellent specimen of the speckled diver, or sprat-loon,..was shot near the Ferry, a few days since, by Miss Holgate.

1910 E. H. Eaton Birds N.Y. I. 103 The Red-throated loon, Red-throated diver, Sprat loon, or Scape-grace, is fairly common along the shores of Long Island and Lake Ontario.

2007 Virginia Wildlife Jan. 33/2 Red-throated loons (Gavia stellata) also known as red-throated diver, sprat loon or little loon are considerably smaller than the common loon.

1855 Trans. Philol. Soc. 37 (Norfolk words) Sprat-mowe, Herring-gull.

1905 A. H. Patterson Nature Eastern Norfolk 251 (heading) Common Gull. (L. canus).—‘Cob’, ‘Sprat Mow’.

?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 419 Therefore there were ij. Merlynes; oon of them callede Ambrosius, geten of a spratte [L. incubo] at Kaermerthyn.

1549 T. Smith Exam. W. Wycherly (Lansd. 2) f. 26 He..hath used the crystal to invocate the sprat called Scariot..; which sprat hath given him knowledge an hundred time.

a1600 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) I. 336 The fluir laid witht greine cherittis witht sprattis medwartis and flouris.

1780 A. Young Tour Ireland 137 It kills all sprats (juncus) and produces a fine sweet herbage.

1784 A. Wight Present State Husbandry in Scotl. III: Pt. ii. 636 If a plant he calls well-grass, a dwarfish kind of sprat, makes its appearance, it will be encouraged by summer watering.

1792 J. Sinclair Statist. Acct. Scotl. IV. 518 That species of grass which grows on marshy ground, commonly called spratt, is much used for fodder.

1853 G. Johnston Terra Lindisfarnensis I. 199 There is not much danger of lairing where Sprats grow abundantly.

1922 Trans. Royal Sc. Arboricultural Soc. 36 57 (table) J. articulatus, Linn. Jointed rush; Sprat rush.

1981 A. Fenton & B. Walker Rural Archit. Scotl. v. 60 In the higher-lying areas a fresh covering of rushes or sprats was put on each year.

1756 F. Home Exper. Bleaching 28 When the cloth has an equal colour, and is mostly freed from the sprat, or outer bark of the lint, it is then thought fit for souring.

1779 J. Curry Elem. Bleaching 142 The cloth becomes pretty white, at which time there appears in it small dark coloured specks which the bleachers call sprat.

1801 C. Coote Statist. Surv. County Monaghan xii. 205 The cloth shall discharge all the impurities it has received in the hands of the weaver..and lay the sprat, or the nap, to make it look the better for sale.

1804 W. Patterson Observ. on Climate Irel. v. 311 When the cloth becomes pretty white, small dark coloured specks, which the bleachers name sprat or sprit, appear in it.

1832 D. Wakefield Pledges defended & offered in Let. to Electors of Lambeth 7/1 A farmer in Kent who, holding some poor land.., thought to gain by spratting his farm, that is, manuring it with sprats at a heavy cost.

1852 Times 13 Oct. 5/6 In this district, when the fields are spratted.., you may smell them for miles.

1923 Agric. Gaz. & Mod. Farming 10 Aug. 190/1 In the Boston area of Lincolnshire it is the custom to use sprats, and the system is known as ‘spratting the land’.

1863 Chambers's Jrnl. 10 Jan. 32/1 The English fishermen go out spratting in stow-boats.

1893 Times 20 Nov. 10/1 The Walmer lifeboat was also driven into Dover.., after rescuing the Steven and Sarah with two hands, who were out spratting.

1966 World Fishing Apr. 24/1 Some 10 pairs of boats were spratting from Buckie or Peterhead in 1964.

2015 M. Smylie Perilous Catch (e-book ed.) The mid size were up to 50 ft and generally spratted with a stownet.